third

From Middle English thirde, thridde, from Old English þridda, from Proto-Germanic *þridjô, from Pre-Germanic *tretyós, a remodeling of Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós.

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /θɜːd/
• (US) enPR: thûrd, IPA^(key): /θɚd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /θɪɹd/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /θøːd/
• (Liverpool, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /θeːd/
• (Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /θɛːd/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /tʊːɹd/
• (New York City) IPA^(key): /t̪ɔɪd/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d
• Homophone: turd (th-stopping)

third (not comparable)

1. The ordinal form of the cardinal number three; Coming after the second.

   The third tree from the left is my favorite.

   • 2012 October 8, Daniel W. Patterson, The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry‎^[1], UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 141:

     The second and third quarters of the shield are indecipherable on the stone but clearer in two other representations of the arms, a painted wooden funeral hatchment for Mary Davie […]

   • 2024 July 1, Chandelis Duster, “Biden and Trump touted what they’ve done for HBCUs at CNN’s debate. Here’s what their records show”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     “Congress took the lead on putting the HBCU funding in those bills and passing them. The third COVID-19 bill, passed under President Biden, included as much funding for HBCUs as both of the first two Covid-19 bills under President Trump,” he said.

• 3rd, 3d, IIIrd, III

third (countable and uncountable, plural thirds)

1. The person or thing in the third position.

   Jones came in third.

2. One of three equal parts of a whole.

   He ate a third of the pie. Divided by two-thirds.

   • 2023 December 27, Philip Haigh, “All eyes are on the DfT as rolling stock concerns deepen”, in RAIL, number 999, page 19:

     Despite these uncertainties, Clarke told MPs he was convinced of the need to order trains powered by batteries. He said: "We're calling for a 'no regrets' order of battery trains because we see them always having a future. We see them being fundable, financeable, similar cost to diesel trains, and we know that however much electrification we would aspire to do, there's always going to be at least a third of the network that isn't electrified.

3. (uncountable) The third gear of a gearbox.

   Now put it into third.

4. (music) An interval consisting of the first and third notes in a scale.

   They sing in thirds.

5. (baseball) third base

   The play ended with Jones standing on third.

6. (golf) A handicap of one stroke every third hole.
7. A third-class degree, awarded to the lowest achievers in an honours degree programme
8. (archaic) One sixtieth of a second, i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system.

   Synonym: tierce

   • 1994, John David North, The Fontana History of Astronomy and Cosmology, page xxi:

     […] thirds (sixtieths of seconds), fourths (sixtieths of thirds) and so on, but then it becomes very cumbersome.

• (gear): third gear
• (fractions): third part, ⅓

• riding

third (third-person singular simple present thirds, present participle thirding, simple past and past participle thirded)

1. (informal) To agree with a proposition or statement after it has already been seconded.
2. To divide into three equal parts.

• interval

• drith, thrid

From Middle English thirde, thridde, from Old English þridda, from Proto-Germanic *þridjô, from Pre-Germanic *tretyós, a remodeling of Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós.

third

1. third

• “thrid, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “third, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.